Monday, October 27, 2008

This is from the Fine Oak range of Macallans that are matured in refill, ex-bourbon, and some ex-sherry casks. Is that enough to justify the utterly obscene price at the LCBO (see above)? Wow. For a standard bottling? Seems nuts, but I guess those crazy Canucks buy it. I can think of a few other drops I might prefer for 125 bucks.

Reminds me of something I saw in an email from my friend Doug Stone at FORSCOTCHLOVERS.COM. He has partnered with Carol Iselin and Dave Sugar, the creative minds behind Inner Light Crystal Studios in New York, to create only 21 hand-carved bottles of Macallan Fine Oak 21yo. Now there is something that might be worth the spend. Take a look HERE.

Macallan, one of Speyside's most legendary distilleries is undergoing a bit of renovation. I was able to visit the Macallan distillery in August and see some of the construction they were doing to increase production, storage, and tour-ability of the site. A whole new process house is being created and, I imagine, will be the showroom of production so the tours needed walk so far into the plant (or so near the steel washbacks).

For more distillery info and to see all Macallans had on the Malt Mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Oaky and spicy, waxy and woody. A carpentry shop with hard honeydew, white rind of watermelon, cinnamon, and quite lush with vanilla.

Buttered white toast, nutty oiliness, with toffee and bitter chocolate. Oak throughout, even a bit cardboardy. Great movement in the finish where the vanilla-ed oak blossoms and lingers for some time.

SUMMARY:

The nose is pleasant, oaky, and sweet but the alcohol is quite aggressive causing strong prickles with even shallow nosings. Square on the palate with distinct regions of flavour that give an overall rounded impression. But again, the alcohol tingles and this will be a challenging feature for many. Certainly improves with time in the glass and a few drops of water.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

NOMINATED in the 2008 DRAMMIES*Most Under-rated whiskyVote HERE (before Mar 6, 2009)Based on the northern Orkney islands, Scapa is somewhat of a neglected jewel in the Pernod Ricard (Chivas, Glenlivet, Aberlour) portfolio. The distillery is only producing spirit 3 days a week. It is unsual in still using a lomond still, although it is operated as a normal still today (the parallel plates have been removed), and Scapa practices the longest fermentation time of any distillery: 160 hours.

This Scapa 14 expression replaced the Scapa 12 (Malt Mission #67) expression in 2004 and the rumours are that a Scapa 16 may be soon replacing this 14yo. To be fair, this sort of thing makes sense as their stocks from a period of when the distillery was mothalled (1994-2004) must be very limited as the only spirit produced during these years was when staff from the nearby Highland Park distillery would come by for a couple months per year to fire up the stills. So most the stock to be used to make a well-rounded spirit may actually be quite a bit older than 12, 14, or 16 (hence the age jumps, and justifiable price jumps).

For more distillery info or to see all Scapas had on the Malt Mission, click HERE.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

This is the first and only blended whisky from whisky creator and all-round admirable guy John Glaser and Compass Box. It also marks the last marque in his range that has not yet been on the mission (if we include the Cantos as a single "expression"). Oh damn... execpt for Orangerie... which I see has just been re-released!!! Woo hoo!

The name Asyla is beautiful and evokes the problematic notion of finding refuge in a bottle, perhaps inappropriate to some, but for others an idea that resonates with the definition of institutions "for the protection or relief of some class of destitute, unfortunate, or afflicted persons." Anyone feel a little unfortunate these days? Smile! Life is wonderful SO FIND THE WONDER!!! I promise it is there in the company of your friends and family, the smiles of the children around you, in your own resourcefulness and creativity, and, yes, in delicious and beautifully crafted scotch whisky, in spite of what some haphazardly composed "satircal prose" might tell you.

This whisky is made up of single malts (Linkwood, Glen Elgin, Teaninich) and grain whisky (Cameron Bridge) 100% matured in first fill (ex-bourbon) American oak barrels. Awards have been draped upon this whisky since its inception.

Much fuller on palate than nose, but soft. Malty with some citrus. Hazelnuts, All-Bran. "Quite a nice, smooth aftertaste."-RM

SUMMARY:

Grows on you, "more than it ever seems it will be." Tight bordering on flat, but quite full and smooth, rich and sweet. Good hillwalking summer dram and the front line redeemer of a whole category of scotch whisky.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

While Glenfiddich fast approaches becoming the first single malt to sell 1million cases in a single year we begin to see signs of a possible downturn for the booming decade that Scotch whisky has enjoyed. And no, it is not because interest in waning or scotch is losing out some competition with bourbon/vodka/rum, but it is because the planet is producing insufficent food for demand, it is because the poorest people in the world cannot afford to feed themselves or their families, it is because people cannot afford homes they cannot afford, it is because the richest people in the world have invisible money that is vanishing (paradox?). Good times!

So here is a luxury good perfectly suited to be enjoyed as the ship sinks. May all this hardship rekindle a sense of community that has been eroded for so long in western culture and bring us back to the fundamental importance of taking care of one another. So let's share this proverbial bottle and come together.

This year's Vintage Cask release from Glenfiddich was selected from a shortlist chosen by David Stewart and Brian Kinsman of six european oak casks from 1975 and 1977. Both David and warehouseman Don Ramsay were around when this cask was filled (in fact, Don had been at Glenfiddich nearly twenty years at that point!). The other selection panelists this year were authors Gavin D Smith and Walter Schobert, restauranteur Jimmy Bradley, and Russian whisky expert Erkin Touzmohamedov. The cask yielded 450 bottles. Check out the Glenfiddich Channel on YouTube to see the selection process.

For all Glenfiddich had on the Malt Mission and distillery info, click HERE.

An absolute treat. My tasting notes do not do this justice as I simply found it too much of a distraction to type impressions while in its grip. And to put those impressions into words somehow diminished their significance. Silent, contemplative sipping that can assure the battered spirit that the it will persevere. Could be worse.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Winner of the Best Mainland Whisky award at the 2007 World Whisky Awards, this 21 year old expression from Aberfeldy distillery was introduced in 2005, 7 years after Bacardi acquired the distillery (along with Dewar's blends and 4 other malt distilleries) from Diageo. The award winning vistors' centre Dewar's World of Whisky opened in 2000 and has been visited by almost a million people.

Although Dewar's dominance in the USA market has slipped a little in recent years, the brands diversification into 12, 18 and ultra premium while raising the blend's association with this fine distillery has helped it's appreciation among malt enthusiasts and widened its consumer base beyond the scotch and soda crowd, if those old fogies even still exist.

For all Dewar's whiskies had on the mission, click HERE. Thanks to SM for sending along the drop and sorry for taking about a year to feature it.

TASTING NOTES:

Sweet, rich and beautiful. Creamy with incredible aroma integration. Nothing out of place or prickly. Toasty, woody, and full of honey and heather, even a gorse-y coconut aroma among a luscious creaminess.

Friday, October 03, 2008

The creative baby of the folks at Balvenie, the 17 yo expression has seen incarnations as Islay Cask, New Wood, New Oak, Sherry Oak, and now the 17yo Rum Cask. This year The Balvenie Malt Master David Stewart and his 9-year apprentice Brian Kinsman have gone for a Jamaican Rum Cask finished Balvenie to be their 17yo release.

Folks in the USA will notice that the Balvenie Rum Cask 17yo is about 45 bucks more expensive than its predecessor, the 17yo Sherry Cask (tasted on Malt Mission #312). This has spawned a bit of a discussion on John Hansell's WHAT DOES JOHN KNOW regarding price increases across the Scotch whisky world. I have not yet weighed in on the issue on John's site, but I will add my two cents now.

All of the top 10 single malt distilleries in the world are working at full capacity for the first time since the 1970s if ever. The technical advances and increases in labour hours have therefore increased and if we want, say, Dalmore 15yo in 15 years we have to help pay for that investment today, with the current prices of grain, energy, manpower, etc.

When every bottle a distiller can produce can be sold, the demand exceeds the supply. This seems terribly obvious, but we who have increased interest, passion and SALES of Scotch whisky must recognise that it is a finite product. Scottish distilleries are not enormous operations and that is why we love them. The time and patience that it takes to make, say, a BenRiach 20yo is what has so charmed us about the world of malt whisky. And yes, it makes us feel good and tastes great but if we were to put a price tag on time we would find that we have been paying far too little for far too long. When a Patron Silver (completely unaged tequila) can be sold for $40 and an Aberlour that has matured for 12 years and then gets a second maturation in a sherry cask can be sold for $41, something ain't adding up and we'd be idiots to think that this could last forever.

The instability of the American dollar demands that if a whisky company remains determined to keep the USA as a priority market then prices must be adjusted accordingly as the industry losses last year based on currency alone were VERY significant.

And finally, just look around; movies, bread, rent, WhiskyFEST tickets, etc. have ALL seen increases of well over 100%. Over the past ten years, the price of new Scotch whisky has NOT gone up at the same rate as this wider trend while resale and collector sales of whiskies have seen incredible increases. The eBAy phenomenon has definitely made distillers ask "if PC5 can be sold one month after we released it for 60% more on the auction market, why the hell didn't we charge that from the beginning?" A good, and fair, if annoying, question. (Die pirates, DIE!)

The market can certianly bear it and we, as whisky lovers, must support it for the tens of thousands who work in the industry and for our 30th wedding anniversaries where we want to be able to have the best whisky bar the world has ever seen.

Enough for today. On to the whisky at hand. Have your say at John's excellent site or leave me a comment.

DISCLAIMER: Please let it be known that I currently work for William Grant and Sons, the family-owned Scottish distilling company that owns The Balvenie distillery. If you choose to take my tasting notes as bullshit and Dr. Whisky has not, after 311 Malt Missions, earned your trust as a source of honest presentations of whiskies good and less good, then so be it. But I do vow to maintain objectivity and am under no constraints from my current employers with regards to how to present their whiskies. As a result are the listed impressions are my own, as always. In light of my editorialising above, I should also add that nothing I say reflects the opinion WGS and those opinions expressed are the sole expression of one SS, Dr. Whisky.

TASTING NOTES:

Multi-layered with sweet themes of fruit and spice. Candied and inviting with banana chips, dates, and anise flavoured liqueur. Loads of brown sugar sweetness with grapes and hazelnuts. Toffeed, some tamarind and synthetic orange, growing gently minty with time.

A luscious and sweet dram that, naturally, will not appeal to everyone. All the complexity comes in the key of sweet: peaches and nectaries, candies, apples, honey, syrup, brown sugar, rum, berries, grapes (perfect Rosh Hashana whisky?) but remains incredibly drinkable and neither cloying nor saccrine-sweet due to the gentle but permeating oaky core of this spirit. To a sweet new year!